Written Answers Thursday 14 February 2008

Scottish Executive

Criminal Procedure Amendment (Scotland) Act 2004

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of cases have transferred from the high court to the sheriff court in each year since the Criminal Procedure Amendment (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force.

Right Hon Elish Angiolini QC: Section 3 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 was amended by the Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997 on 1 May 2004 and increased the maximum sentencing powers of the sheriff, sitting with a jury from three to five years imprisonment, meaning that some cases which would previously have been indicted in the High Court are now indicted in the sheriff court. Individual cases are not, however, recorded as being indicted in the sheriff court on that basis. The main provisions of the Criminal Procedure Amendment (Scotland) Act 2004 came into force on 1 February 2005.

  The following table shows the total number of cases disposed of in the High Court and the total number disposed of in sheriff and jury courts in each year since 2003-04.

  Court Disposals - Solemn Cases

  

Year
High Court Cases
Percentage Change from Previous Year
Sheriff and Jury Cases
Percentage Change from Previous Year


2003-04
1,170
+3.3%
3,352
+1.5%


2004-05
864
-26.2%
3,611
+7.7%


2005-06
836
-3.2%
3,905
+8.1%


2006-07
839
+0.4%
4,224
+8.2%

Police

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority received from the Police Capital Grant in each year of the 2004 spending review.

Kenny MacAskill: Police Capital Grant was paid directly to the eight police authorities in each year of the 2004 Spending Review as shown in the following table.

  Police Capital Grant (£000)

  

 
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08


Central Scotland Police
1,494
1,567
1,425


Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary
899
921
765


Fife Constabulary
1,905
2,024
1,781


Grampian Police
2,234
3,123
2,705


Lothian and Borders Police
4,711
4,519
4,622


Northern Constabulary
2,772
1,787
1,485


Strathclyde Police
14,824
15,202
16,267


Tayside Police
2,576
2,272
1,995


Total
31,415
31,415
31,045



  The amounts allocated to each force area in 2005-06 and 2006-07 were distributed according to the requirements for Airwave for each force with the remainder distributed by a formula agreed with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). In 2007-08, the allocations were calculated by using the agreed formula.

  In 2007-08 £370,000 was transferred from Police Capital Grant to the Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) as part of the transfer of the costs for Forensic Science Services, as agreed with ACPOS.